BY SUE KIESEWETTER
Enquirer Contributor
UNION TOWNSHIP -- Should it be Union Township or West Chester Township?
That's what trustees want registered voters in this fast-growing Butler County community of 56,500 to decide.
For years, residents and outsiders have called this 38-square mile township both Union Township, its legal name, and West Chester, the post office designation given the area in 1826.
"We've developed a problem of identity," Trustee Thomas Hayden said.
Ohio has 28 townships named Union, including one each in nearby Warren and Clermont counties, said Amber Dean of Ohio Secretary of State Bob Taft's office. Darke County has a city named Union. Mr. Hayden said trustees are not advocating changing the form of government -- only the name. Voters have rejected efforts to incorporate three times in the past 10 years, in 1988, 1989 and 1993.
Swapping names would not be expensive, Trustee Catherine Stoker said. "Other than changing a lot of letterhead and stationery, (there should be no expense)," she said.
To start the process, trustees must receive petitions requesting the name change signed by 50 percent plus one of the township's 32,754 registered voters, township Administrator David Gully said. Butler County commissioners would consider trustees' recommendations and would have final say.
Mr. Gully said the township often gets mail, bills or deliveries for other Union Townships. The township has even been sued for matters involving another county's Union Township.
"Hopefully, (the name change) will eliminate some of (the confusion)," Mr. Gully said.
